Google's 'CitizenTube' helps Iranian protestors

Changing the world, one YouTube at a time

Following the recent political rioting in Iran, Google has launched a new blog encouraging citizen journalists to post their political protest videos to YouTube.

Google's "Citizentube" blog shows would-be protestors how to get around the blocks put up by governments that don't necessarily want the rest of the world to see what its police force and armies are really getting up to on the streets.

"YouTube Blocked in Iran? Here's How to Circumvent an Internet Proxy" reads a headline on the CitizenTube blog this week.

The blog links through to various sites hosting the video is posted, so those protestors in places where YouTube is blocked can still view it.

Google does politics

Citizentube is described by Google as a "special YouTube blog devoted to chronicling the way that people are using video to change the world."

"As you might have noticed, there's a lot of fascinating stuff that happens on YouTube every day," reads the latest post.

"Have you seen the video of a Guatemalan lawyer who predicted his own assassination on YouTube moments before it happened? Or did you know that YouTube and Google have launched a new technology platform for political debates, which allows you to submit and vote on the most important issues you want to discuss with political candidates?"